SOLON — It took a shootout to do it, but the Lady Spartans edged past Regina Catholic’s Regals 2-1 (3-1 PK) in a Class 1A Region 8 quarterfinal round match Wednesday, May 15 in Solon.
The Regals scored with 12:17 left in the second half, breaking a 0-0 stalemate. Sophia Link scored on a free kick that arced up and over Regina keeper Reese Litton’s head to knot the game at 1-1 with just under two minutes left in regular play. Two scoreless overtime periods followed triggering a penalty kick (PK) shootout.
Rose McAtee, Farrah Hendricks, and Elena Swan made it 3-1 with keeper Audrey Heineman clinching the win by swatting the ball up and over the goal on Regina’s final shot.
The win advanced Solon to the semifinals Tuesday, May 21 (after this edition had gone to print) in Center Point against the No.8-ranked Stormin’ Pointers. CPU defeated the Lady Spartans 2-1 in a PK shootout in Solon April 11 and defeated Washington 6-1 in their quarterfinal match to improve to 11-1 overall (7-0 to lead the WaMaC East) while Solon improved to 8-7 (4-6 in the WaMaC East).
Also on Wednesday No. 9 Hudson hammered Benton Community 10-0 while Anamosa topped Mid-Prairie 2-1. Hudson (14-2) and Anamosa (10-3) faced off in Tuesday’s semifinals as well.
The Region 8 Championship match will be played Thursday, May 23 at the highest-ranked team’s site at 5:30 p.m.
The 2024 State Tournament is set for Tuesday, May 28, Thursday, May 30, and Saturday, June 1 at the Cownie Soccer Complex in Des Moines. For full information regarding schedules, tickets, live stream and TV broadcasts go to https://ighsau.org/news/state-soccer-tournament-central-3/.
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The shot heard ‘round Solon – Sophia Link launches a shot at Regina’s goal last Wednesday in a Class 1A Region 8 quarterfinal in Solon. Link scored in the second half to knot the match 1-1. A PK shootout settled the match with a 2-1 win for the Lady Spartans.